**********************************************************************
* INSTITUTE OF HISPANIC/LATINO CULTURES *
* University of Florida *
**********************************************************************
1504 W. University Avenue
Gainesville, Fl 32603
Phone: (904) 846-0405
Fax: (904) 392-5566
E-mail: lacasita@acprog.ifas.ufl.edu
WWW: http://www.acprog.ifas.ufl.edu
1. Introduction
The Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures was organized and developed
by the Hispanic-Latino students at the University of Florida. Better
known as La Casita, the Institute serves under the Office of Student
Services, organizing programs and providing services to the Hispanic-Latino
community. As a physical and institutional nucleus, the first of its kind
throughtout the southeastern United States, it is dedicated to the
gathering of information regarding treds, necessities ans achievements of
the Hispanic-Latino community. Students, faculty and staff use La Casita
as a place to learn about each other, and to educate others about the
diverse ethnic and cultural array that comprise the Hispanic-Latino
community.
2. A Small Touch Of History
In 1991, a group of students, faculty, and administrators working under the
Quality of Life Task Force made several recommendations towards the
improvement of the quality of life for Hispanic-Latino students. Of key
interest was the recommendation to create a Hispanic-Latino institute.
Two years later, a group of students under the leadership of Lyvia
Rodriguez, with the assistance of Minerva Casanas-Simon, prepared and
submitted a proposal to the administration of the University of Florida.
On October 25, 1993, the administration publicy announced to the
University and the Gainesville community that a new Institute of
Hispanic-Latino Cultures would soon open its doors. On April 1, 1994,
the physical building located at 1504 West University Avenue was dedicated.
The Institute opened its doors for the first time on May 17, 1994.
Today, the Institute in involved in several major projects, from preparing
a State-wide Hispanic/Latino student conference for the Spring of 1995
to its active participation in the Internet, as well as the compilation of
a library of Hispanic/Latino related issues.
3. We Are Here To Help
The Institute is here to provice services to the Hispanic/Latino
community. We are mainly an information gathering and distribution
center as far a Hispanic/Latino issues are concerned. If you need to get
in touch with us, please do not hesitate to do so.
4. Would You Like To Help Us?
As a center that just recently opened its doors, we need your help in
our effort to gather information of Hispanic/Latino related issues.
The following are some things you can help us with:
* In the Internet:
We would like to know of other organizations/institutes/people/etc that
are present across the Internet. This would include e-mail addresses,
gopher links, WWW links, postal addresses, and any other piece of
information you can of. We want to keep a database of such information,
and would like to add all available links to out home page. Note all
addresses are at the top of this document.
* Outside the Internet
Again, any piece of information you can provide us with is greatly
appreciatted. Our address is at the top of this document. You can
also send us a fax, or simply call us.
5. Further Postings
It is our hope that we can provide a service to Hispanic/Latino community
at large. As a fist step, we will periodically be posting a small
newsletter to all the Spanish-speaking newgroups in the Internet. At this
point, these include the following:
soc.culture.argentina
soc.culture.brazil
soc.culture.caribbean
soc.culture.chile
soc.culture.colombia
soc.culture.cuba
soc.culture.ecuador
soc.culture.latin-america
soc.culture.mexican
soc.culture.mexican.american
soc.culture.peru
soc.culture.puerto-rico
soc.culture.spain
soc.culture.venezuela
soc.culture.uruguay
If there are any other newsgroups you think would be interested in getting
this postings, please let us know.
Thank you.
Institute of Hispanic/Latino Cultures
University of Florida
__________________________________________________________________________
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|| This document prepared by Gerardo Lopez-Fernandez. December 5, 1994 ||
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~